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Midnight (TV story)
Midnight 'is the tenth episode of the fourth series of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Russell T. Davies, directed by Alice Troughton and featured David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. Overview To be added Synopsis While Donna stays getting pampered, the Doctor goes on a tourist shuttle to see the Sapphire Waterfalls of the planet Midnight. Everything is fine until the knocking on the wall begins. With a woman on the ship who has the ability to turn all his powers against him, passengers who are willing to throw him out of the shuttle and a unknown alien possessing everyone, the Doctor is shaken to his very core when everybody reverts to their base instincts to get to their murderous solution... Plot Taking some leisure time on the planet Midnight, Donna receives a call from the Doctor, who wants her to accompany him on a trip to see the Sapphire Waterfall, but she insists that she'd prefer relaxing at the spa and sunbathing. Paying no heed to his warning about the planet's X-Tonic sunbeams beneath 15-feet of glass Donna agrees to try out the anti-gravity restaurant once he returns. Despite her warning him to be careful, the Doctor jinxes himself: "Taking a bus full of strangers across a diamond planet called 'Midnight', what could possibly go wrong?" He boards a shuttle bus ride to the Sapphire Waterfall. Other passengers include the Cane family (Val, Biff, and their bored teenage son Jethro); Professor Hobbes, who is investigating the waterfall; his assistant Dee Dee Blasco; and recently-divorced businesswoman Sky Silvestry. Before they take off, the driver informs them they are taking a different route to the Waterfall Palace because of a blockage on the regular path. For the long journey to their destination, the hostess activates the entertainment for passengers that most of them find distracting and annoying. The Doctor discreetly disables them with his sonic screwdriver; he then suggests that they use the time to engage in small talk with one another and he has a lot of engaging conversations with the other passengers Later, Hobbes makes a presenation about the planet for the passengers, stating that it is a completely uninhbiatle planet as the X-tonic radiation would vaporise any known form of life in seconds. Suddenly the shuttle stops, everyone guesses that they must be there. However, Hobbes tells them that he's been on the trip twelve times; they never stop and it's too early for them to have arrived. Curious, the Doctor uses his psychic paper to pose as someone from the Leisure Palace insurance company. He talks to driver Joe and mechanic Claude, learning that there is nothing wrong with Crusader 50's systems; however, they are simply stopped. He convinces them to open the shutter to look outside at the landscape as Joe informs the Doctor that the path they're on has never been travelled; they're the first ever to roam this part of Midnight. They take the risk and life the shitters and as they sit in awe of the sight, the mechanic points out at the rock face, having apparently a fast movement. He dismisses it, but the Doctor seizes on it eagerly. Before Claude can elaborate, the X-tonic starts to overwhelm the cockpit's finitoglass windscreen and Joe closes the shutter. Right before it closes, Claude sees the movement again; a shadow running towards the bus. Joe tells the Doctor that a rescue vehicle is on the way, and to keep quiet about things. The Doctor returns to the cabin, where the Hostess pushes past him to talk to the duo. Mrs Silvestry asks him what's going on, prompting everyone to talk over themselves to ask him questions. The Doctor silences them and promises that they have oxygen and that a rescue vehicle is coming so they will all be fine - then a knock comes from outside the hull. Everybody is unnerved and the Doctor applies his stethoscope to the wall to listen as the knock start moving around the hull. Biff thumps on the door three times to prove it's integrity and it knocks in tandem to his own. While everybody panics, the Doctor knocks on the hull four times, and just like before, it copies. Hobbes insists that nothing can exist out there but nobody believes him as the knocking very clearly disproves his claims. Sky becomes hysterical, shouting at the Hostess and demanding to know what is out there as the knocking around the hull starts pounding in her direction, pinning her in the corner. The knocking stops as a dent appears in the door Sky is next to. The lights fail and the shuttle is violently rocked and everybody is thrown around the place. When the lights are restored the hostess distributes torches and everyone looks around to see if any are injured. Jethro draws attention the seats near Sky, noting have been ripped off the floor and she is cowering, hands over her face in the corner. The hostess tries to contact the cabin, but gets no response, assuming the generators to be dead, she opens the door to speak to them and the shuttle is consumed in X-tonic light, forcing her to close the door. The Doctor opens up a systems panel with his sonic screwdriver to examine it for any faults, but behind the faceplate, all the systems have been torn apart, as if the driver's cabin has been ripped away, vaporising driver Joe and mechanic Claude. Jethro calls everyone's attention back to the cowering Sky, who hasn't moved a muscle; the Doctor kneels next to her and tries conversing with her. Sky initially remains motionless but is coaxed into turning around by the Doctor. He tries to address her, but she simply repeats everything she hears everybody else say. Deciding to test how well Sky can copy them, the Doctor says the square root of pi, becoming amazed she repeats every number without fail even when they were talking over each other. The rest of the passengers start become hysterical and panicking, only to be shut up by the sudden restoration of the lights. Hobbes tries to calm everybody down when Sky stops repeating them and starts talking in perfect sync with them. Everybody, particularly Val, starts freaking out. The Doctor tries testing Sky by saying random terms, nonsense words and reciting the alphabet and abruptly stopping, with Sky copying him without fault. He sequesters everybody to the back and suspects that whatever is possessing Sky is learning. The passengers start thinking irrationally and contemplate throwing Sky outside; the Doctor is mortified at the idea and he tries to calm everyone down. However, his attempt to take charge backfires as the passengers become suspicious of him, especially since he refuses to give his real name or his place of origin, no less when he admits to being curious. He refuses to allow them to throw her outside and Biff suggests throwing him out too if he gets in the way of them trying to save themselves. However, as the Doctor protests that they will need him to survive if the entity turns out to be malevolent, Sky stops repeating everyone and focuses solely on the Doctor. To try reasoning with the consciousness in Sky, the Doctor attempts to offer it help with finding a voice of its own without stealing his. However, when the Doctor asks the entity if it can agree with him, he has spoken after Sky. The Doctor is now repeating Sky's words, motionless and clearly strained as if fighting something. Most reason that it's the Doctor that is possessed now, as Sky can move again. However, the hostess and Dee Dee think this is just the next step: stealing the voice of another as the Doctor had predicted. The other passengers refuse to listen, with Hobbes furiously telling Dee Dee that he considers her to be "average at best", to reason and decide to throw the Doctor out the nearest door, all the while being goaded on by Sky, who is strangely happy despite the madness going on. The Doctor shows minimal signs of resistance to being pulled towards a door by Biff and a reluctant Hobbes as Sky describes how the entity is insidious and gets inside the humans' heads. However, the hostess realises that Sky is not talking in her own voice; she uses two phrases the Doctor had used earlier (Molto bene and Allons-y). The entity in Sky has stolen the Doctor's voice. "Sky" notices the hostess is not fooled by her performance and is fearful. To save the Doctor, the hostess drags the entity to the door and unseals it, allowing for the six seconds before both she and it are thrust onto the planet's surface to be vaporised. As soon as the entity is gone, the Doctor slowly recovers from his paralysis; Val tries defending herself by saying she knew it was Sky. He simply glares at her with a look of dismay and slight disgust and she recuses herself shamefully. For the next 20 minutes, the survivors sit silently when the rescue bus finally comes for them; the Doctor asks if anybody knew the hostess' name. To their great dismay and remorse, the passengers realise that they never asked the name of the woman who just saved them all. The rescue craft returns them to the Leisure Palace, the Doctor mournfully reunites with Donna. They discuss what happened and the Doctor remains clueless as to what it was, if it's still alive or if there's any more out there. Regardless, he tells Donna he plans to bring it to the attention of the Company and instruct them to move the resort somewhere else, leave Midnight to turn silently forever. Donna can't fathom what the Doctor would be like without a voice. The Doctor tells her, "Molto bene", with a smile. Donna copies him. Disturbed, the Doctor tells Donna not to do that, then looks away, clearly still haunted. Cast * The Doctor - David Tennant * Donna Noble - Catherine Tate * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper * Hostess - Rakie Ayola * Sky Silvestry - Lesley Sharp * Professor Hobbes - David Troughton * Dee Dee Blasco - Ayesha Antoine * Val Cane - Lindsey Coulson * Biff Cane - Daniel Ryan * Jethro - Colin Morgan * Driver Joe - Tony Bluto * Mechanic Claude - Duane Henry Crew To be added References To be added Story Notes To be added Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''Midnight'' page on '''Doctor Who Website